Best Present Ever
by TheKikGeek
Summary: *Sequel to Best Birthday Ever* What happens when Lily has to plan a throw James a birthday party? It becomes a complete mess, that's what. But at least she got his the best present ever!


**Hey! Before you read this, I just want to say, this is kind of like a sequel to my One-Shot, "Best Birthday Ever,"**** which is about Lily's Birthday. Since 52 years ago, the fictional character, James Potter, was born today, I decided to write a short splat of his 17th birthday in the same 'world' as the other one shot was from. So if you want to read Lily's birthday, feel free. Thanks!**

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><p>I woke up and immediately groaned. 'Today is the day', I thought to myself. With a quick confirmation of the calender, I detected that today, was in fact, James Potter's birthday. I pulled the blanket off of me as I lazily threw my legs to the ground.<p>

Now, it being Potter's birthday was not something I would normally be concerned about. Had you told me three months ago that it was his birthday, I would have shrugged and then politely wish him a 'happy birthday' before turning around and ignored him. Well, things have changed in those three months.

For starters, we are suppose to be friends now. We were Heads together, after all, and our friends were friends. Friends care about friends birthdays and were suppose to help make it special.

'Maybe that was why I felt like crap this morning,' I thought as I made my bed. 'I didn't make it special enough.' Sure I had spent half the night and most of the morning decorating the Great Hall, along with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. But the gift I got James was crap and the party I planned was going to be a snore feast!

See, I would not normally plan someone's birthday party. I don't have a creative bone in my body, and I wasn't the best of friends with James. I just didn't know how to throw a party! But I had to.

Why, you may ask. Well, it's kind of payback for my birthday two months earlier. James Potter had planned a surprise party for me, that after a horrible day, really made for the best birthday I ever had. And I needed to repay him.

Now, even though I needed to plan the party, Sirius wouldn't let me. He claimed that it is a Marauder Tradition to plan their friends' parties. I had countered that it was a tradition among my friends to plan my party, so if James broke our tradition, I can break his. Sirius claimed that it wasn't written in my girl's bylaws, so James didn't really break any rules. What the heck? What kind of friend has their rules written down? The Marauders, that's who.

Sirius was just upset with me because James and I aren't dating. A lot of people were mad at us, actually. I mean, sure. I kissed James at my birthday party, but that was just a thank you kiss! It didn't really mean anything!

Through my stubbornness, however, we had decided that we would both plan the party. And after many conflicts, ("No alcohol, Black!" "Well, no pin the tail on the donkey, Evans!") we decided it would be best to have two separate parties, one right after the other. Mine would be after dinner, at eight o'clock. His would start at ten.

I walked over to the bathroom, and opened the door.

"Good morning!" James cheerfully sang, though his toothbrush was still in his mouth. I waved before pulling my hair back into a messy bun, so I could wash my face. "Happy Birthday," I said, with both hands still busy with my hair. James smiled and thanked me before spitting into the sink.

"Gross!" I joked as I began to wash my face. James cleaned the sink, then leaned up on the counter.

"So ... what are we going to do today?" James playfully inquired. I continued to get ready and shrugged at him.

"Go to class."

"Lily!" He whined. I laughed and stuck my tongue at him."Tell me! Give me a hint!"

"Well," I started, thinking of one of the games I was going to do at the party. Screw Black! "It involves an ass ..."

"Your ass?" He asked hopefully. He leaned forward and looked at my behind. I let a laugh slip pass, as I stood there, shocked, in my skimpy pajamas.

"Not if you keep that up!" I returned playfully when he had laughed out loud. I finished up my morning routine and walked back into my room to change for school. I started to take off my clothes when a heard a loud in take of breath. I quickly turned around and James had followed me.

"Okay, get out. Birthday boy or not, you ain't gonna see these goodies!" I joked with him as I pushed him out of my room and closed the door behind him. I quickly changed and, after grabbing my school bag, greeted James in our common room.

I couldn't help think how handsome he looked, despite the fact he looked worried that I might blow up at him for seeing me change. I smiled at him and he sighed with relief. I'm blaming it on being his birthday so I couldn't be mad at him.

"Ready?" I asked. He nodded and we left together. On the way downstairs to the Great Hall, we didn't really talk. It wasn't until we got to the Great Hall that I stopped him.

"Okay, before you go in, I just want to say how awesome I am."

James laughed and nodded him head. "And also very modest and humble, too."

I nodded with a smirk on my face. "Yeah, well, that's what you love about me," I said that sarcastically and quickly continued when James soften him smile affectionately. "I am also very tired and I have you to blame."

James still smiled, but raised his eyebrows, even though I _knew_ he knew what was on the other side.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me see already!" He opened the Great Hall doors and I filed in behind him.

At first glance, you could definitely see who did what. I had charmed a giant banner to hang over the Staff's table to read, 'Happy Birthday James!' in a nice, cursive handwriting. I set streamers in gold and maroon all around the the boarder of the room with the same colored balloons tied down on each of the five tables. I had charmed little fairies to fly around the room, singing "Happy Birthday to you."

You could also see what Sirius and Remus did. They crossed out 'James' in my banner and wrote 'Prongs,' James' nickname. They also had small sparklers on each of the tables and two charmed lions were running around the room.

Well, the "Prongs" word was written off center. The sparklers were sending sparks to my balloons, popping them and the lions were running around, eating my fairies. Needless to say, I was pissed.

I let out a groan of frustration when Sirius and the others spotted James and set off more fireworks. The fireworks roared and exploded and some of them totally attacked my banner. I watched in horror as one got trapped in the fabric and ripped it apart.

James laughed and cheered as he ran to his friends to give them a hug. Wait, no sorry. They were men and men don't hug. They embrace and slap each other on the back.

I stomped over to the table and plopped down next to Diana Lewis. She had been clapping at the display but stopped when she saw my sour mood. "What's got your knickers in a twist, sweetie?"

I flapped my arms all around as I was indicating the room. "Do you know late I stayed up? Do you know how much sleep I got? Just to decorate this room? And it's all ruined!"

Alice moved pieces of popped balloon off of her plate before serving herself some eggs, and spoke. "Ah, it's not too bad, Lily. The streamers are still up!"

Diana added in, "And the fairies look really cute, too!" A stray fairy flew by, continuing to sing the birthday song. I smiled as I looked at it. Of course it was cute! If I was going to lose sleep over it, it better be cute!

Just then, one of the enchanted lions jumped onto the table. It kicked up food on to all three of us and I pushed myself back as far away as possible, with a look a pure irritation on my face. I watched as the lion bit the fairy in half. It continued to sing as it screamed in agony until the lion swallowed it up.

"Well, it _looked_ cute?" Diana offered as an equally irritated McGonagall banished the lions and the few remaining fairies.

"Well, now there's a familiar face I haven't seen in a while!" I turned to my left as Sirius sat down next to me. I glared at him as the others laughed. I felt James sit down next to me and I turned and smiled to him. He laughed at my sudden change of behavior and overly sweetness.

"Thank you, Lily."

I paused as I looked at his smile."You ... you're welcome!" We held eye contact for a moment longer before I quickly broke it to glare again at Sirius.

Well wishes were passed around and soon, after we had all eaten, we had dismissed ourselves to go to class. On our way to the Transfiguration class, Diana and Alice pulled me behind the Marauders and whispered to me.

"What was that earlier?" Diana kept a low voice, but looked at the boys to make sure they didn't hear us.

"What was what?" I whispered, also staring at them.

"Come on, Lily! You were flirting with James the entire breakfast!"

"Was not!" I countered with Alice.

"Oh yeah? How come you asked him to pass you the pancakes when they were closer to you?"

"And how come your face got all red when you guys accidentally touched hands?"

I rolled my eyes as we passed a corner, still keeping my distance from the boys. "I didn't realize they were in front of me," I had turned first to Diana, and then Alice to answer their questions. "And the sparklers were hot."

Neither looked like they believed me as we walked into the class and sat down.

The rest of the day past by fast. A lot longer than my birthday had, at least. And all day long, whenever I smiled at James or he laughed at one of my jokes, I kept getting strange, "I told you so" looks from my friends. I tried explaining it to them. James is the birthday boy. I'm just being nice, but they refused to listen to me.

Soon, dinner came around. Diana, James and Alice decided to skip dinner to work on and essay I already finished so I ate with the rest of the Seventh Year Gryffindors. I remained quiet as I ate, just listening. Well, that had been my intention.

"So," Frank started. He had slept in and missed the first class of the day and joined our gang later. "What time is the party tonight?"

I said, "Eight," at the same time as Sirius said, "Ten." We glared at each other as everyone else laughed. "Black, we talked about this!" I whined. He nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we did Evans," He turned back to Frank. "Pre-party is at eight. The actual party is at ten."

"No," I said angrily as I pushed myself up from my seat. "Party is at eight. Post-party is at ten!"

Sirius copied my behavior and stood up. "Really Evans? You are going to fight me with this?"

"Hell yeah I am!" I was mildly aware we were starting to draw attention. Sirius smirked as he looked down at his watch. "Well, you better hurry because it starts in twenty minutes!"

Confused, I looked down at my watch and swore. It read 7:38. Had I really lost track of time? I ran out of the Great Hall with a few laughs behind me.

Shit! I ran straight to my Head room and grab what I had planned for the party. As I began to pack, I realized I wouldn't have enough time to get ready for it. I pulled out the box that contained all the decorations from that morning from the Great Hall and threw it on my bed. I threw in the cup I had stole from the kitchen into the box as well. I put in a few muggle games I had and finally my wrapped present on top. I then grabbed the box and ran straight to the Gryffindor Common room.

When I entered, there was no one. I looked at the clock that was hanging in the room. 7:52. I had eight minutes before my party was suppose to start! I pulled out the streamers, but knew I couldn't tape them all down in time, so I basically just threw them everywhere. Tying it off on one of the railings, I let it fall behind me as I ran around the room. After making a few loops, I pulled out all of my games and put them on the table. I taped up the 'Pin the tail on the donkey" game to the wall and put all the cups on the table.

As I stepped back, I knew it was a failure. It looked like a complete mess and I wanted nothing to do with it. I realized I had no food, nothing to drink. No music. And worst of all, no people.

I groaned as I threw myself into a chair. Who was I kidding? Me? Throw a good party for James? Nothing I do for him is good enough. I should have just left it up for Sirius to do. James isn't going to want to come here, now.

A couple of times with in the next hour, the doors opened up. People from different houses and years came in, looked around and left again. I had curled myself up into a ball on one of the arm chairs, with my back to the door. I didn't want people staying for pity.

The next thing I know, I feel someone shake me.

"Lily? Are you awake?"

"Huh?" I quickly stirred and looked around the room. James was hovering over me and as far as I was concerned, we were the only ones in the room.

"Hey," he spoke sweetly. "I'm gonna head to the party. It's in the Room of Requirements. You coming?"

I groaned and wanted to cry when I heard this. I looked up at the clock, which read 10:10. My "party" came and went. Without answering him, I sat up and looked past him. The game boards weren't opened yet. The streamers were already picked up and thrown away. There was a second year stacking the cups.

I halfheartedly laughed as I slumped back into the chair, defeated. I used my hands to wipe away the sleep from my eyes and James sat down on the couch, kitty-corner from me, as he waited for a response.

"I'm sorry," I whispered softly. James just looked confused when I said this.

"For what?"

I sat up and gestured the whole room. "For this! I was suppose to plan your party. Well, I guess, pre-party." Fine, Sirius can win this one.

James had a combined expression of surprise and confusion. "You were?": He looked around the room and then back at me. "When?"

I weakly laughed, "Um, two hours ago?" I looked away from him as tears started rolling down my face.

"Well, I didn't know. I would have come if you told me."

I snorted in disbelief. "Go. You're going to be late for your party. You _are_ late for your party."

"I'm birthday boy! Party doesn't start until I get there. Which is why this party never happened! Come on, dance with me."

"James don't. Just go to your party." I waved my hand to dismiss him. He shouldn't miss out on fun because of me.

"This is my party." I roll my eyes, but his hand is still if front of me, wanting me to take it.

"There is no music." I offer and he dismissed, copying me.

"We'll just dance to what ever is playing in my head. Please?"

I debate it momentarily then smiled. He smiled too and grabbed my hand. We walked into the middle of the common room and he slides his hands to my waist. I reach behind his neck and clasp my hands together. We begin to sway back and forth and I lowered my head onto his chest.

As I do this, I can't help think that this is so comfortable. We fit so well together. We danced until I could feel myself drifting away. I pulled back and blushed. Then I remembered his birthday present was still in the decoration box.

"Here, I got something for you." I led James back to the couches we were sitting on and only let go of his hand to find his present. When I found the blue and green wrappings, I handed it to him.

"Happy Birthday, James." He smiled and took it. Feeling it with his hands, he turned it over and over again. He then gave me a surprised smirk.

"What? Did you give me a book?"

Without a second thought, and a very annoyed look on my face, I grabbed the book and threw it somewhere behind me. James laughed at me and got up to get the book.

"I don't know why I bother. Today was horrible,"

"Lily," he said once he sat down again with the book. "Today was amazing and it was all because of you."

I scoffed, but looked at him and his smile. I smiled softly, too. "Wow, are you always that cheesy?

"I'm just Gouda like that."

"Haha, punny." I watched as James opened the present and laughed when he had a look of awe.

"See, not all books are bad, James." He shook his head as he kept his expression. I had gotten James . _Strategies and Tragedies Of Quidditch._ It was a complete "do's and don't's" quidditch guide for helping someone come up with drills for their teams. James flipped through a few pages before remembering where he was and looked up.

"Thank you so much, Lily!" I felt my heart melt a little at his excitement. "This is an amazing present!"

"I have an even better present," I spoke before I even knew what I was saying. James smiled and rolled his eyes.

"No, this is a pretty awesome present. I don't think you can top this."

I was going to forget about what I going to say, but I could tell James was challenging me.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," James challenged straight back. Before I could stop myself, I leaned forward in my chair and kissed James.

He was shocked for a moment, but before he could deepen the kiss, we were interrupted.

"Ew, gross! Get a room!"

I pulled away and turned to the little kid in the room. He had his tie around his head as played 'Pin the Tail', but must have moved it just in time to see us kiss.

"Sorry, Thomas!" I smiled and turned back to James, who was smirking at me.

"So," he started as he leaned back. "Who's birthday is next?"

"What?" Out of all the smart ass remarks I was expecting from him, this was not any of them.

"Well," he explain. "We seem to only kiss if it's someone's birthday. So when is the next birthday so we can kiss again?"

"We don't have to wait for someone's birthday. I mean, people who date kiss all the time. Someone would just have to ask the other person."

James smiled and I smiled too. I realized I finally like him. Yes, I like James Potter!

"Well," James inched forward. "Someone's not going to ask if they know the other person is going to say no."

"I think someone already asked multiple times with the other person saying no." I leaned forward as well.

"Exactly why someone doesn't want to ask until they know the other person will say yes." James came closer to me and I could smell his cologne.

"I can assure you. The other person would say yes. If only someone asked." James smiled and closed the distance between us, our noses almost touching.

"Lily Evans, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes."

We both pushed our lips together and kissed again. That was until a heard a muffled voice from James pocket. With my boyfriend looking irritated from the disruption, he pulled away and took out a mirror from his pocket.

"What, Sirius?"

I stayed where I was and watched James talk to Sirius.

"Where are you, mate? The party was suppose to start 30 minutes ago!"

James looked up over the mirror at me and smiled. "I _am_ at my party."

"But we can go to your post-party," I laughed as I grabbed James' hand and led him out of the common room, though I knew my party was so much better than Sirius'.

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><p><strong>(groans) okay, here it is. This is the first time that I felt like I <em>had<em> to write something, so I don't think I enjoyed it as much as my other stories. :(**

**Well, don't let that stop you from telling me what you think! Please review!**

**Love ya, my gleasues!  
><strong>

**TheKikGeek**


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